Author's notes- Rime! <3

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After Sage's latest chapter, I can't help thinking about how Anisa and Sage had slightly different recollections/perspectives on who Rime was?

Anisa's view is more positive and has a more emotional side to it- her manner is fond as she recalls how Rime used to pace near the window, and she describes Rime as 'the best of us' (which seems to imply being a good person too, not just physical skills). Anisa is also aware of Felix's close relationship with Rime.

In contrast, when Sage remembers Rime pacing by the window, he comments that Felix appeared to always be tailing after Rime, and how they were often bickering over magic and mana (which isn't necessarily a red flag straight away, but just, interesting that Sage's first thoughts on hearing that Felix and Rime were close are: but it seemed one-sided and they always seemed to disagree?)

Sage also tells us that Rime was the 'first in ages to earn a relic by trial and man'. We know relics choose their knight and are drawn to specific qualities, so it's possible such a trial helped to draw-out the inner qualities/abilities of a person (i.e. similar to how your magic manifests in a time of need?) But I'm guessing the trial also had elements of competition/difficulty/survival.

Also related to Rime obtaining the astrolabe: Sage tells us that Rime wasn't exactly humble when it came to reminding others of his victory. Even though I feel Sage was being lighthearted when he said this ('would he not let you forget that'), it still paints a slightly different picture to the way Anisa seems to recall Rime as someone they all looked up to.

So then in Sage's latest chapter, this hint of Rime feeling more superior/deserving of a relic is not just a joking "oh he used to brag sometimes, kinda like Felix" sort of thing...  Rime actually seems to have a lot of contempt for Sage and his behaviour. Rime even specifically wanted Sage to see his face and know it was him before... what follows. So I do wonder what Rime meant when he first referred to Sage and Anisa as his friends!

Is Rime's idea of friendship more like... people who he has a certain amount of control over, such as in his previous role as captain? Does Rime believe some sort of 'inadequacy' from Sage and Anisa contributed to his death? There is definitely a theme in all the routes around the risk of 'becoming that which you fight', so I wonder if Rime wanted to take an action in the final Starsworn battle which the others deemed too far. And whether Rime's death is related to the group not taking such drastic measures, or Rime being forced to take them alone.

I think there's also a possibility that Felix and Rime were already close prior to Felix joining the Starsworn, as Anisa mentions that Felix came on the 'recommendation of a captain' rather than via the regular induction method. Was Rime that captain? I can definitely imagine Rime being drawn to someone with natural talent/ability.

One last thought on this: are relics drawn to similar qualities in different people? We have the same healing ability as one of the astrolabe's previous owners (presumably Rime), but are there other qualities we share with the person Rime used to be? Or, are there qualities we share with the person Rime has always been, and still is?

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Thank you for humouring me with reading this book, it means so much to me like I cannot even say!!! :_)) I thought I would just quickly write this in the middle of other chapters, since it's always on my mind!!

I wanted to share one last thing: our relic, the astrolabe, is described as 'a gold wrought staff housing an iridescent sphere, pulsing with a faint light'. But I only just found out that in ancient times, an astrolabe was actually a two-dimensional representation of the celestial sphere:

One of its main uses was as a navigational instrument- you can use an astrolabe to calculate the angle between a star and the horizon, or line up tiny pinholes on the device with different stars

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One of its main uses was as a navigational instrument- you can use an astrolabe to calculate the angle between a star and the horizon, or line up tiny pinholes on the device with different stars. They were also used in the development of early astronomy, as they offered a way of making predictions around where different planets were going to be.

From ancient Greek, the word 'astrolabe' can be translated to mean 'star-taker', or 'the one who catches heavenly bodies' (in a way, it reminds me of the order of knights being called the Starsworn... <3) I just thought that was really cool!!

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